EDTECH: How did you become interested in artificial intelligence?
ROBERTS: When ChatGPT first came along, I was on paternity leave. The first time I played around with it, I said, this is going to change everything. I also knew that the education field wasn’t ready. I just saw that there’s this huge disconnect between schools and the workplace. We have teachers who are still assigning five-paragraph essays as homework, when ChatGPT can already pass the bar exam. We need to rethink how we assess how kids are learning.
EDTECH: Why does the slow pace of AI adoption in schools worry you so much?
ROBERTS: When I started interacting with ChatGPT, I had this vivid premonition of my most brilliant students sitting shoulder to shoulder with their more affluent peers, who were using AI to shape the world in their image, and my students were looking at them, going, “Wait! I was told that was cheating.” And I just thought that was an untenable position.
If we’re not putting this technology in students’ hands and allowing them to experiment with it, and not also putting the infrastructure and guidance in place, then we are doing them a disservice.
EDTECH: What do you think is the sticking point for AI in K–12?
ROBERTS: Some people see AI as a cheating tool, but I don't see it that way. I see it as a universal translator, one that allows a C-suite executive and a fifth grader to communicate ideas in ways that both understand and respect. And that’s power that our kids deserve to access so that they can compete in a world where the World Economic Forum is saying that 85 million jobs are going to be replaced by AI, but 97 million jobs are going to be created by AI.
KEEP READING: Navigate the world of generative AI in K–12 education.
EDTECH: How can schools circumvent the digital divide that may shut out less-privileged students from using these tools?
ROBERTS: When people talk about equity in AI, my question is who gets to share in solving the world’s problems, and why not our kids? We are a charter school where many of our students are Black and Hispanic, and a good percentage get free or reduced-price lunch. This is the population that I’m serving, and this this is the population I want to make sure is not left out of the new global economy.
EDTECH: How did you introduce AI to students?
ROBERTS: My first AI session with students was in a creative writing class. I asked, “If you had all of the world’s information at your fingertips, what would you do with it?”
I got all of these incredible answers. They said they would build multimillion dollar businesses, solve world hunger or even solve the crisis in the Middle East. The funny thing is, not a single one of them said, “I would do my English homework with it.” They all thought much bigger than that.
EDTECH: : In what ways have your students used AI for learning?
ROBERTS: I piloted a creative writing class with a section of our sixth graders and a section of our eighth graders where they used AI to write their autobiographies. Over the course of 10 weeks, they learned how the technology works, used it to draft their outlines and used it to write drafts of their stories.
DIVE DEEPER: Demystify AI adoption for your K–12 organization.
EDTECH: How did you end up at Foundation Academies?
ROBERTS: I had this burning desire to do more with AI, and they wanted me to take them in that next direction. Our CEO, Sheria McRae, really believes in this as well and embraced the vision. She’s very much of the mindset that AI is a tool that can be used for building or destroying, and that it’s our job to teach kids how to use it.
EDTECH: How are you implementing AI for adults at Foundation Academies?
ROBERTS: Knowing that very few teachers in general were receiving ongoing professional development on how to implement AI in the classroom, I created an AI crash course for the teachers.
The course shows them how AI can save them time and how it can help our kids think bigger about this technology. They were completely optional, but we were seeing so much traction that the leadership team came to me and asked me to host professional development sessions around the topic for all of the teachers and staff.
EDTECH: What tools are you using right now? Any recommendations?
ROBERTS: We are using Khanmigo and ChatGPT, but I’m less focused on the suite of tools and more focused on the thought process that goes into using them.
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EDTECH: How can more schools embrace AI?
ROBERTS: You can put the tools in front of students, and they're going to be creative. However, we need the teachers and the administration and the leadership to guide students to think bigger and provide the right learning frameworks. For this to happen, there needs to be a drastic shift around this within education.
This technology is only going to get better with time. While teachers are still on the fence, the kids have made up their mind. So, it's a matter of are we going to help them see its full potential, or not? I can't stop my daughter from growing and I can't stop her from learning. I must adjust my parenting to match her and challenge her. The same must be said for these AI tools, because they’re only going to get better with time. And we must make sure that we can use AI to help our kids lead the world that they’re going to inherit.
